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0. VEZIN. METHOD 0R PROCESS OF UNITING SHEETS OF IGE.

Patented my 8, 1884,.

Erms. Phmo-mm n x 2'0 aZZ whom it 12mg; concern:

NITED STATES tries..

A'rnN'r OSCAR vnzin, or ELIZABETH, new JERSEY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 301,539, datedduly 8,1884-.

Application filed January 12, 1883. Renewed December 8, i883. (Nomodel.)

' Be it known that I, Oscnn Vnznv, of Elizabeth, Union county, NewJersey, and a citi' zen of the United States, have invented an ImprovedMethod or Process of Uniting Sheets of Ice, of which the following is afull, clear,-

and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,forming part of this specification.

The object of my invention is to unite by freezing together slabs orthin sheets .of ice that have been artificially produced in anicemachine, to form blocks of ice of the thickness necessary to theirbeing merchant-able; and my invention consists in the method of unitingsheets of ice in which the sheets to be united are first laid upon andwith the faces at which they are to be united in contact with a smoothplane plate of metal or equivelent material, the temperature of which isabove that of the ice shects, whereby any inequaltties or unevenness onthe said faces of the slabs is melted off, and said faces are renderedsmooth and plane, and then, while the faces are covered-with the waterresulting from the melting of the ice, placing the sheets toblocks ofice.

gether, with their wet plane surfaces in con tact, whereby the sheetsare instantly united by the crystallization of the intervening water.

In the manufacture of ice it is customary to place cans containing waterto be frozen in a bath of liquid, the temperature of which is reducedbelow the freezing-point, and allowing the cans to remain in thefreezing-bath until their contents are congealed into solid If less thansix inches in thickness, the sheets of ice are not merchantable,

' and it is desirable, for obvious reasions, that they should be ofstill greater thickness; but thick sheets of ice cannot be thus producedeconomically, as the water congeals but slowly chantable dimensions.

after the formation of the first inch or two of ice on the innersurfaces of the cans, the ice itself acting as a non-conductor of heat,and prolonging the operation.

Myinvention consists in the following-described process, whereby two ormore comparatively thin sheets of ice, produced in cans asiaboveindicated, may be congealed together, forming a single solid block ofice of mer- The sheets of ice in- .DBSS.

tended to be frozen together by my process are to be produced by theordinary method commonly practiced in artificial-ice making that is tosay, in metal cans or vessels of suitable size and form placed in arefrigeratingbath. These cans are usually about three feet in length,eighteen inches in width, and from six to eight inches in thickness.Similar cans may be used for the practice of my process, except thatthey should be made much thinner, so as to produce sheets of ice notmore than two to three inches in thick- The rate of congelation is muchgreater in such thin cans than it is in those designed to producethicker sheets. The greater the thickness the slower is the rate ofcongelation. The sheets of ice, when thus produced, have a temperatureconsiderably below the freezing-point, and if, on being removed from thecans, these slabs were placed one upon another, with their contiguoussurfaces covered with uncongealed water, they would be frozen solidlytogether but for the fact that their surfaces having. the unevenness ofthe cans, as roughly shown in Figures2 and 3, are not perfect planes,and cannot therefore be brought into complete contact throughout. Toaccomplish this result I provide a smooth plane table (preferably ofmetal) of dimensions suitable to receive two or more of the sheets ofice produced in said cans. The temperature of this table is raised toand maintained at a degree a little above the freezing, point, which maybe done in any suitable manner. The preferable way is to construct thistable as represented in Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings, which showsa perspective view of steam-table, in which A is a broad flat metal box,madesteam-tight, and provided.

with a steam-inlet and steam or water outlet pipe. Into this box steamis introduced from any suitable steanigenerator, whereby the uppersurface constituting the required table may be suitably heated.

Figs. 2 and3 show rough blocks of ice Fig. 4c, the same on thesteam-table. Fig. 5 shows two blocks of ice united.

Two of the slabs, being removed from the cans, are laid upon this table,and allowed to "remain until their surfaces in contact therewith areslightly melted and made smooth and plane, as seen in Fig. 4. Then theyare quickly placed one upon the other, as seen in Fig. 5, when thenncongealed water resulting from their previous contact with the table Awill be instantly frozen, thus uniting the sheets,

into a single solid block of mcrchantable ice.

It is obvious that any desired number and thickness of sheets of ice maybe thus frozen solidly together.

What I claim as my lnvention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

The described method of forming thick, solid blocks of ice, consistingin the freezing of water in metal cans, the placing of the sheets of icethus formed, when removed from the cans, upon a plane heated table,whereby one surface of each shect'is, by melting, reduced to a smoothplane, and then immediately placing the sheets together, with their saidplane surfaces, while still covered with nncongealed water, in contact,all as described.

OSCAR VEZIN.

NVitnesses:

THADDEUS J. MGOARTHY, A. G. N. VERMILYA.

